I was recently introduced to the boozy splendor that is premium dark rum. I’ve primarily been drinking Ron Zacapa Centenario 23, a Guatemalan rum. It’s wonderful, smokey, syrupy and sweet. When I spent a week on a dive boat last summer, a fifth of this rum kept me fine company.
I have only heard of the fantastical experience that is Havana Club. A premium dark rum that unless I remember sometime when I’m ex-US to ask for, I will likely never taste. Why? It seems most of the world can have Havana Club — but not we Americans.
Announcing the results, the joint venture company, Havana Club International, says that the authentic Cuban rum is on course to make five million cases by 2013. The Havana-based company exports to 124 countries, excluding the US where Cuban-made products are banned.
Oh well.
Havana Club breaks three million cases [Drinks International]
HAH! Suck it America :)
Just leave the United States. You don’t have to go to Cuba to get Cuban rum, it’s for sale in every other country and you can legally bring it back, I think two bottles or so. Whenever we leave the country, we pick up a few bottles for ourselves and close friends. There’s nothing like a Brooklyn Hootenanny with some illicit Cuban Rum.
The 23 Zacapa rum is nice, but let’s face it … after 23 years of evaporation there’s not enough rum left in the barrel to produce this product … which means that you’re getting like 2 drops of a 23y rum in your bottle.
I stumbled on this new rum, Rubi Rey, in Chicago. It’s got a nice pack and it’s really smooth. I think it was 86 proof as well … I had it on the rocks. Not sure if it’s everywhere yet, but I found it online http://www.rubireyrum.com
Or, you know, eBay.
Come to think of it, I might still have a bottle of this in my cabinet. Been to Cuba twice (legally) on educational visits. A bottle of Havana Club and a box of Cohibas, that’s about all I could bring out with my $100 limit.
Havana Club is okay, but I would highly recommend the premium, older dark rums from Caney and particularly Santiago de Cuba. Also, a proper cafe con leche made with Cuban coffee is goddamned ambrosia. There’s a lot of like about that place (and a lot to detest).
Oh, and I also highly recommend Vegas Robaina cigars as an under appreciated alternative to Montecristo. Supposedly the only cigar named after a living man (Don Alejandro Robaina, famously talented tobacco farmer).
I think I’ve seen it at http://www.crownwineandspirits.com, which can ship, hopefully that helps.